Sunday, October 13, 2013

A Song in My Heart

By Lezlie -

I woke up this morning with a song in my heart. It
was 6:00 AM- I had been up until midnight, and I was recovering from a rotten
cold. I am away from family and friends, with very few material possessions.
The peace and joy I felt made no logical sense.

As a scientist I always want to analyze data that is
not logical to find the “secret” or the unknown causethat is lurking beneath the unexpected
data.As a convert to the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of 35 years, I am still amazed how differently
the Lord works, and how easy it is when we do what we are asked. It does not
always make sense, but it always works…

What brings this joy, this feeling of accomplishment
on a mission, when we are not doing anything that we don’t do in our normal lives
in our home in Washington with our own friends in our own surroundings???I am not sure, but I want to understand it so
that I can have it for the rest of our lives.Here are some of my hypotheses…

1. In a real, tangible sense, totally trusting your
life to the Lord. Going on a mission where you say that you will go anywhere
you are asked and will do anything you are asked is sort of like jumping off of
a building and asking the angels to catch you. When you land, it is like being
in OZ and saying OK, now why am I here? It really causes you to reflect about whatis important to the Lord and how you can use your
skills and talents to do what God thinks is important, rather than trying to
sift through everything in your daily life. There is no waiting until we have
time for things or until whatever we think needs to get done gets done. It
never does. Those things are what we are here for, and get #1 priority.
Interestingly, the tiny little things that we are continually doing here, that
seem insignificant in themselves, are a big deal to the people on the receiving
end at that moment. It is very rewarding to not have the distractions that we
do in real life to do things we see that need to be done and be able to do them
right then in a way that works.

2. You are no longer yourself. I always thought the
missionary badge would be inhibiting, but it is surprisingly liberating. People
recognize you as a representative of the Lord, rather than as Dan or
Lezlie.Because of that they assume you
want to be nice, and most people are inordinately polite and helpful. We know
who we are, so it is just amusing if people seem afraid of the tags.On base, because of the competent and
dedicated work our predecessors did, we are welcomed with open arms.Anyone who has worked with Sr missionaries in
the past has been not only respectful but almost in awe. The biggest confusion
they have is that they cannot believe we are not getting paid.They recently had to hire a Catholic Priest
on base to serve mass to the Catholic candidates, because they did not have a
Catholic Chaplain here, and some of the other distinctive faith leaders that
are volunteers will not come to the early morning meetings, so all the
chaplains are very amazed that the Mormons are having services with up to 5
volunteer leaders who come at 5:00 in the morning if necessary- our bishop came
down ( 40 minutes to our early services today) because one of the officer
candidates needed a marriage interview so he can get married in the temple when
he graduates in Dec. We feel we are
filling big shoes. But we know we are competent to do whatever is asked. It is
a good feeling- to know that your life experience has taught you something you
can use for the good of something much bigger! Seeing the dedication that the other
missionaries here have is inspiring- People have the stereotype of the young
elders knocking on doors, but we see them working in food banks, tutoring,
building retaining walls in parks, weeding and painting Boys Clubs, and singing
in the hospital. We feel every time that we put our badges on that it is an
honor to wear them.

3. We have only what we need to make us comfortable.
The apartment we have is very simple but adequate for our daily life- a
comfortable bed, 2 working bathrooms, a view of a woods and a bonus for us is the dog walking area is
right out of our window- tender mercies) a friendly toad and squirrelthat visit frequently, and a large, efficient
oven. We have a desk for our computer and enough closet space for our clothes.
It takes us 10 minutes to get ready in the morning, and 10 minutes once a week
to clean the apartment. We have nothing personally we think we have to do. We
do not have to get back or change plans to water the plants, or feed the dogs
or watch a TV show. Instead of being a
hardship, it is quite liberating.

4. Dan and I are focused on the same goals every
hour of every day. We are a great team, but it is easy to get in routines and
our own interests at home. Not that that is bad, but it is invigorating to have
to revitalize and use each other’s skills as we work to achieve the same
end.We make a plan each day, divide up
the work, and then do what we each do best and help each other. The end result
is appreciated by both of us. For example, I research LDS military families
that are new or struggling in the area, and determine where they are
geographically and group them. Dan takes care of being sure the car is ready,
and checks past visits for any special needs. I bake something to take or we
take a coloring book or flowers, depending on where we are going. Afterward he
records what happened while I plan the next visit. When I do a lesson, he does
the audio-visual, and vice versa. It has been fun to be in new situations where
we have to depend on each other in new and yet old ways.Along these lines, we are together all the
time- never more than a room away.Instead of feeling like we have to make an effort to give one another
attention, it is automatic, and we both receive enough attention from our
spouse..!

5. We are forced to be resilient and flexible and
creative. This gets more difficult as you get older, and it is good to exercise
this quality. We plan every evening for the next day, and adjust it in the
morning, and there has not been a day gone by that something hasn’t thrown our
entire plan out the window. A young
elder breaks his foot, they cancel one of our meetings with OCS, no one shows
up at TBS because they are in the field, the other Sr missionary couple here
got salmonella, one of the OCS candidates wife finds out she may have been
exposed to a dangerous disease while pregnant, a young sister missionary must
be sent home and we must transport to Richmond, and on and on.But interestingly, we have dealt with these
things and STILL accomplished all that we had planned. Not in the same order or
at the same time, but by the same deadline we had set for ourselves. As a
matter of fact we are currently ahead of schedule. This doesn’t work out on
paper, but we are experiencing it happening. Sort of the parable of putting the
pebbles in before the sand…So see the
flexibility & resiliency of the young missionaries is unbelievable. Today
was transfer day- they had 1 day to pack up everything they have and be ready
to start work with a new companion in a new area. They are very close to their
companions so it is very difficult to leave friends they have just begun to
feel comfortable with.But it works.
They obey and receive skills and blessings that cannot be described and will be
with them their entire life.We do not
feel interrupted or bothered like at home when something comes up- it is as
though this must be what we are supposed to deal with now. This is our job. And
it is amazing to be in the places you can help and make a difference when you
are willing to do it. These are qualities we are learning and hope to carry
over more off our mission.

I am sure I will have many more reflections on why
this works over the next several months, but right now we are enjoying having a
very positive and amazing experience doing very simple things.

(Dan - I would like to echo Lezlie's reflections and agree with all she has said. We are having an amazing experience in only our first month, and it is hard to capture exactly why it is so amazing. I think that being able to truly make service to others and thereby service to God your number 1 priority all the time provides wonderful feelings of peace, contentment, and fulfillment. We love what we are doing. We love being missionaries.)